The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1887-07-07
REMOVAL OF NAPOLEON FROM FRANCE
TO ST. HELENA.

The remains after embalmment
were placed in a case of TIN, no
lead available for a coffin being on
the island. The coffin was carried
to its resting place by a body of
British Grenadiers it was a salvo
Of British musketry that was fred
over the tomb while in the distance
the cannon Numbered from British
ports and British warships. The
ashes of the conqueror and captive
of the earth rested under the willow
tree in the valley for nineteen years,
when, in obedience to the almost
universally expressed wish of the
French people, an official request
was made to the British Govern
ment for permission to remove the
remains of Napoleon to France.
The demand was cheerfully and
gracefully granted, and Lord Pal
merston, in signifying the consent
of England, expressed hope that
with the bringing of all that was
mortal of Napoleon to France the
last embers of animosity between
the two countries might expire for
ever. Great was the eXulta,iOn and
wild the enthusiasm produced among
our neighbors by the diSnified court.
esy of the British Government. One
of the finest frigales in the French
navy, the Belle Poule, was fitted
out with..a chapeplle ardente to re-
ceive the remains, and TO command
her was appointed the sailor son of
Louis Philippe, the still-living
Prince de Joinville. The Belle
Poule and her consorts set sail for
st. Helena; but curiously enough,
when the Prince reached the rock
he found that the intelligence had
arrived, by vessel swifter than his
own, that serious complications had
arisen between France and England,
and that war was imminent. His
mission, however, had to be accom-
plished; the collin was disentonmb-
ed; it was opened, and the body it
contained was at once identified by
the old attendants of the Emperor,
by Generals Bertrand and G0ugaud,
by Count Marchand, the Emperor's
former valet-de chambre, and by his
maitre d'hotel, his stud-groom and
his cook. They were startled, yet
sadly satisfied, by the spectacle
they beheld. There was dead Caesar
turned to clay, in his habit as he
lived; the lace and buttons on the
Uniform had gone black, the thread
with which the gloves and boots had
been sewn had rotted; but other
wise there was little change. Tie
face was IN a wonderful state of
preservation; the silver vase con-
tanning the heart was intact. The
attendants knet and wept; a brief
prayer was said by the ecclesiastics
present, and the coffin was rapidly
closed, lest the air should sweep the
still recognizable features of the
dead and efface them to dust.
In the middle of October, 1910,
the expedition sailed for France. In
the middle of December OF the same
year the body of the Emperor was
borne through Paris to be re-buried
beneath the golden dome of the In
valides. Elderly witnesses yet liv-
ing can scarcely fail to be unani-
nous as to the unexampled, the I'M
approachable grandeur and magnifi
cence of that pageant. An innumer-
able multitude thronged the Champs
Elysees and the Place de la Con-
corde from the very dawn of the
bleak wintry day; the leafless bran
ches of the trees bore clusters of
the schoolboys; the whole garrison
of Paris was under arms. There
was, however, no likelihood of dis
turbaDce; the habitual gaiety of
the Parisians seemed even to be
temporarily suspended, and for
hours the prodigious crowd remain
ed patiently, quietly waiting. At
lergth, in the remote distance, was
visible, slowly sweeping through the
great Arch of Triumph, the monu-
ment Of his victories, the head of
the funeral cortege. On it came
infantry by the division, cavalry by
the brigade, artillery by battery
after battery-onward came the en-
tire crew of the Belle Poule, their
commander, the Prince de Jolnville,
heading his gallant tars. The enor-
NOUS assemblage looked on with
fascinated interest, but uttered no
word. At length came the funeral
car, a splendid chariot, towering
high aloft, and drawn by sixteen
horses in sumptuous housings and
nodding plumes; the pail draping
the bier was of purple velvet, pow
dered with the Imperial bees; at
each corner was the Imperial eagle.
Surmounting the structure was the
coffin, massive chest of ebony,
and on the lid lay a cloak. little
cooked hat and sword. 1t was
the cloak of Marengo; it was the
hat of Jena; it was the sword of
Austerlitz. And when the multi
tude saw this sight, and the cords
of the pail held by the old comrades
and the old servants of the Emperor
and King, they burst into one great,
thunderous, ringing shout of give
PEmpereur!" 1t was caught up in
the Place; it crossed the bridge;
it ran like the Greek fires along the
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